The Portland daily press., 1887-06-14
TUsKEcEE SCHOOL,
The Work for the Negro Race and
One Of the Methods Of Doing IL.

lAuShesee, Ala, Letter 10 the Boston Transcript
Here in Tuskegee an attempt is being
made toward the settlement of two Of the
problems that are agitating the minds of the
whites in regard to their colored brothers.
The school is trying to increase the working
capacity Of the negro laborers, at the same
time that it increases the knowledge Of the
negro voters. Fortunately the school is not
the only one in the South that is working for
these two ends; but it is. believe, the only
one Of the kind in the South or in the coun-
try that was organized and is now managed
and taught entirely by negroes. In this re-
spect, it may be regarded as unique and an
experiment of more than ordinary interest.
Accounts of the school and its work have
from time to time crept into the Northern
papers, and Mr.. b. r. Washington, its able
and energetic principal, is personally known
to many Northern friends. Perhaps it is
sufficient for me to say of it, in Mr. Washing
toms own words, that it is dependent for its
support on state aid Northern philanthro-
py and Negro pluck, muscle and earnest
ness" The State aid consists of $1,000 per
year, appropriated by the State of Alabama
I0r tne payment OF the teachers salaries
Northern philanthropy has purchased $40
acres OF land which belong to the school, has
added buildings, farm stock and implements
and furnished the plant for the establish
ment Oh the various industries and trades now
practlced on the place; and negro pluck, mus
Gle ana energy have planned, organized and
carried on the work during the six years
Of the schools existence. Today it gradu-
ated its third class, sending out into the
held from its 275 pupils IL new recruits to
JON the 10 already prepared for labor by
school hAnon IN nil .of
ley, crowd OF colored people of every class
and condition, "some in rags and some in
tags, and some in velvet gowns" Some
came IN large mule wagons, into which en-
tire communities seem to be packed; others
foot It along the sandy roads for miles, ar
rayed in any holiday finery that they can OBJ
tain, and bent on seeing all that can be seen
OF this wonderful institution, where their
own children are being instructed and
trained to become monuments of wisdom
There IS something pathetic about the way
these old people, bowed by years Of slavery
and toll, delight in the opportunities which
they now see offered to their children. That
they are great and splendid they have no
doubt, and they dimly grope in their dark
what this great gift of knowledge consists
They see its value and wander puzzled and
distraught, through the various recitation
rooms, trying to catch some inkling of what
thio SlCht MOIk Is. oOUl6 Oh THEM seem To
think that these glib youngsters in the reci-
tatlon rooms are not fully alive to sense of
their mereies. As one old lady expresses it,
dis yere's a wobblin' generation. Dey does
MT 'preciate der 'yantages."
The morning is taken up with recitations
IN the various rooms of Porter Hall, and in
the Inspection Of the various industries in
operation on the place.
OF these industries there are at present
eleven regularly taught in the school, all val
uable Industrial arts, and many Of them
likely soon to fully support themselves, even
with the disadvantage of having to train
raw material and send it away as soon as it
becomes skilled labor. Students may have,
in addition to their regular school education,
blacksmithing, wheelwrighting. carpentry,
painting, printing, brickmaking, masonry,
farming, cooking, sewing and laundry work,
and the finished work displayed in each de-
partment gives one the idea of high stand
ard set and attained. The new steam saw
mill presented to the school this year by
friends in and around Boston cuts up wood
grown on the school land, and ready
market is found for all the lumber that can
be spared after the needs of the school itself
are supplied. The printing Office, too, is the
only job office in the region, and can get as
much outside work all the time as it can do.
a new brick building now going up on the
place, to serve as dormitory for the boys Is
built entirely by student labor under the di-
reetlon OF one skilled mechanic hired from
outside.
The academic work of the school occupies
a four years course of study, during which
the student is carried from the grammar
school work of the junior year, in which the
studies are simple and adapted to learners
who have had very little previous school
training, up through carefully arranged
course to the geometry, literature, chemis-
try, mental and moral science and civil gov
ernment of the senior year. The classroom
work is thorough and careful; all done by
trained and experienced teachers fine and
specimens of what Is already
for individuals, and what may
reasonably be expected to be accomplished
at no very distant day in the elevation of the
negro race as whole.
The afternoon exercises are Of the charac-
ter OF school commencements all over the
land. The students speak well, and in an
earnest, manly and womanly way, their own
thoughts in their own language. The efforts
are the efforts of fresh and inexperienced
youth, but full of the bravery and enthusi-
asm and high thoughts Of youth trained to
think on the great questions Of the day, IA
mliar with the noble thoughts and words of
our most gifted writers, the wonders and
mysteries OF Nature as our age Of scientific
research has revealed them. While they are
no more, they are also no less than what we
see done by white students in similar insti-
tutlons at the North.
The afternoons exercises closed with an
Grafton by Hon. S. A. McElwee. a member
Of the Tennessee Legislature. He is man
who thinks for himself on questions relating
to his people, and his words are wholesome
and to the point.
He closes with quotation from Longfel-
lows. Building of the Ship" the fine pas
sage beginning, Thou, too, sail on, o Ship
Of State" and the strange, rapt, negro audi
ence, who have been sitting dazed and joy
ful under this display Of brilliancy and
learning from their own race. as they catch
III a Fu md Af 10 a. lu1s
cred in ringing tones by the speaker, are
carried away by the sound. One old lady
especially, whose day has been one pro-
longed succession of new experiences, can
restrain herself no longer, but responds with
a feryent Sail on" at the closing Of each
of the quotation. Her dim, fearful
eyes are fixed on the speaker; her sad, sensi-
tive mouth is drawn and tense, as in sort
of half trance she repeats the words again
and again. 1t is pathetic, but only sort of
climax to the pathos which mingles eontin-
ually with the hopefulness and encourage
ment of the whole day.